On September 11, 2001 a massive attack went down that will never be forgotten. Terrorists attacked the World Trade Center causing nearly 3,000 deaths. Two planes went into New York’s World Trade Center, one plane went into the Pentagon, and a fourth went into a field in Western Pennsylvania.
You will always hear the question, where were you on September 11? And everyone will always know the answer. It is a day that America will never forget, but it is also a day that American children born afterwards do not know of. According to a survey, only about twenty states include anything in depth about the events of 9/11 in their school curriculum.
When asked about 9/11, students have very large knowledge gaps about the event. Knowledge gaps that they want to fill.
Duckworth, a professor of conflict resolution at Florida’s Nova Southeastern University, found that only about 20 states include content about Sept. 11 in their high school social studies curriculum. And in about half of those states, she says, the topic is covered in a mostly cursory way.
A 2011 research paper by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement underscored serious shortcomings in Sept.11 teaching curricula, including textbooks with “a startling lack of detail about what actually happened on 9/11.” In addition, the report found that despite the many contentious issues surrounding the attacks and the American response, “little was presented in the early curricula and textbooks as controversial.”
Whether or not the event is taught in school in length, it is always important to send out our thoughts and prayers for the victims and their family of 9/11. It is a time where America should stand in solidarity and remain strong.
Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/09/11/549532978/teaching-sept-11-to-students-who-were-born-after-the-attacks-happened